Am'jm"r'i9u9arIn'}  Drugs  and  Druggist  in  Tuberculosis.  279 
out  that  the  principal  difference  between  this  and  the  modern 
method  is  that  beer  and  alcoholic  liquors  are  now  forbidden. 
Another  remedy  combined  a  cow-heel  from  the  tripe  house  ready 
dressed,  two  quarts  of  new  milk,  two  ounces  of  isinglass,  a  quarter 
of  a  pound  of  sugar  candy,  and  a  trace  of  ginger.  The  benefits 
of  fresh  air  were  apparently  recognized.  The  patient  was  directed 
to  cut  up  a  little  turf  of  fresh  earth  every  morning,  and  lying 
down  to  breathe  into  the  hole  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  Blood- 
letting was  advised  for  a  patient  who  was  so  weak  he  could  not 
stand,  and  this  was  to  be  kept  up  for  a  fortnight  if  he  lived  so 
long.    Inhalation  methods  were  also  used. 
Coming  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  2  and  later  we 
find  that  in  addition  to  the  teas,  syrups,  and  other  cough  remedies 
and  inhalations,  the  patients  were  often  advised  to  take  twenty  or 
twenty-five  drops  of  laudanum  every  night,  and  if  this  did  not 
give  relief  they  were  advised  to  take  an  emetic  of  ipecac  every  day 
until  relieved.  For  pain  and  great  soreness  of  chest  it  was  advised 
that  "  a  blister  should  be  drawn  and  repeated,  if  necessary  or  ser- 
viceable." Pitch  plasters  were  also  recommended.  Tartar  emetic 
was  likewise  directed  to  be  used  as  a  counter-irritant,  being  applied 
where  a  blister  had  been  previously  applied,  thus  keeping  up  the 
soreness.  However,  the  patients  were  advised  against  strong  medi- 
cines and  to  use  proper  food  and  frequent  exercise  in  the  open  air ; 
and  the  beneficial  effects  of  these  latter  agents  were  emphasized, 
showing  that  whatever  were  the  theories  in  regard  to  the  cause  of 
the  disease,  the  treatment  was  quite  rational  in  some  respects. 
Following  the  discovery  of  the  tubercle  bacillus  by  Koch,  in 
1882,  antiseptics  and  disinfectants  had  quite  a  vogue  in  the  treat- 
ment of  tuberculosis.  Some  of  the  most  powerful  gases,  including 
chlorine,  hydrogen  peroxide,  hydrogen  sulphide,  sulphurous  acid, 
formaldehyde,  and  hydrofluoric  acid  gases,  have  been  used  as  in- 
halations. The  gases  were  generated  in  special  chambers  or  in  the 
sick  room,  and  it  was  claimed  that  the  bacilli  were  destroyed,  and 
the  toxins  oxidized  and  finally  eliminated.  Some  of  the  antiseptics 
were  administered  internally  with  the  idea  of  their  being  eliminated 
through  the  lungs  and  thus  having  a  direct  action  on  the  bacilli, 
as  iodoform  and  creosote.  Even  injections  into  the  pulmonary 
cavities  of  mixtures  of  eucalyptus  oil  and  iodoform  have  been  re- 
sorted to,  which  method  Stifle  says  is  more  remarkable  for  its 
boldness  than  for  its  reasonableness  or  success. 
